Talk:How To Repair Dishwashers/KitchenAid Repair/Chopper Replacement

Mine is the KitchenAid with the four screws and easier chopper cover. It helped to understand that the chopper sits on the outside of that channel/ridge. On re-assembly I had difficulty screwing the bottom spinner to the screw as the screw piece would grab it crooked. So I assembled it with the long channel piece (the one that runs from bottom center to the top center) outside the dishwasher and then put the 3-piece assembly back in and rotated to position and pressed the clips. Thanks a million !

Braidwood7071 (talk) 16:29, 26 May 2010 (UTC) Thank you kindly for the step-by-step instructions - you saved me a bundle AND made my husband proud!!! I found this site last night, then set my laptop up next to my dishwasher, and went to town. I found 3 olive pits and a chicken bone and toothpicks and other glorious goo, BUT the olive pit was the real culprit - it was wedged into the chopper. Didn't need to replace it fortunately. The hum of the dishwasher never sounded so good!

Thanks again, from a "Career Mama" in Vancouver, BC. Panny

Braidwood7071 (talk) 16:29, 26 May 2010 (UTC) Thank you for the excellent instructions and pictures! My kitchenaid looks just like this with some minor changes (like top shelf locks). I didn't need to replace the chopper,just lots of stuffs, I think it was a whole chicken carcass!! You saved my $250. at least.

Awesome help!! I fixed my own dishwasher and saved at least $200!

Yes, great instructions. Note that sometimes the chopper does not actually need replacement, just that the area around it requires a good cleaning. In my case, there were chicken bones, a ceramic chip and what appeared to be shark's tooth(???) blocking the intakes to the chopper. Simply cleaning all this gunk out made the dishwasher run like new again. This kind of cleaning is quite easy and should probably be performed annually, but of course, is not mentioned in the manual. Have to give those "repair" guys something to do...

yes, this was very helpful to me even though I had a slightly different model. i also did not replace the chopper because it was not clear to me how to remove the stainless steel blade and screen assembly. could someone add this information?

This really helped me too, probably saved my dishwasher! Mine had a huge buildup of mineral deposit and grime, and I just needed to clean it all out. And since our top shelf did not remove as stated, it was very difficult to access the chopper. Thank you so much for this post. (This parenthesis marks my second post: Just fixed dishwasher again - it's been years since the first repair - and if top shelf has tabs different from the ones in the pic, just REMOVE the tabs. Also, I did not think the chopper cover was going to come off.  I tried pliers, screwdriver, hanger, tried grabbing the tab, tapping the tab,etc.  Couldn't find any groove to put a screwdriver in.  I kept thinking it was gunk buildup since there was almost a seal of gunk on the larger cover which didn't want to let go.  So I put in a good amount of hot water with Mr. Clean and drained.  Could not run a whole cycle, but could drain only.  Did this twice, then saw a recommendation on another thread to "use a hairdryer".  So I ran the hairdryer on it for several minutes.  Didn't budge.  Went to church, prayed, came home.  The thing popper right off!  Looking at it, it seems once the screw is off there is nothing, mechanically, holding it on. God bless and thank you so much for this repair guide.)

Great help, the pictures were really helpful. My problem were a number of small shards from a broken glass. Once I removed the chopper assembly, I used a mini-vac to make sure I had all the shards. Didn't need to replace chopper and now is just as quiet as when new.

From Grant in Homestead, FL: This is great. After scouring the KitchenAid site and manual, I was about to give up. My wife suggested I Google it and I found this article. There was a bunch of gunk clogging the chopper assembly. Still in the process of putting it back together (putting the spinning arm back on is proving to be much harder than getting it off), but I think I've almost got it. THANKS!!!

Another happy dishwasher!!! Thanks.

I was pretty sure there was something clogging the intake as the dishes seemed to be coming out more dirty than when they went in, but I could not figure out how to get it the spray arm and other pieces apart. I checked on Google, found this site - and the excellent pictures made it so easy! The intake in mine was clogged with a chunk of glass, a chicken bone, something that looked like a Q-Tip, and some gunk. It is a bit difficult to re-attach the spray arm - I pulled mine up through the centre of the arm with pliers before I could get it it to engage - I held the centre still with the pliers and turned the spray arm to attach it. And now the dishwasher cleans like it did when new!

Thank you from a NY Mom. My Kitchen Aid dishwasher had not been cleaning well for quite awhile. I took it apart according to these instructions and found clogs in 2 areas; after removing the part at step 13 I found lots of gunk, a bread tie, 3 toothpicks, a broken piece of plastic (from a toy?) and something hard and round which I couldn't identify., and under the filter that was attached to the top side of this part which I popped off with a flathead screwdriver, I found more gunk. I anticipated difficulty in reattaching the arm based on the other comments, however I used the advice in the comments above and held the center cap up with pliers while turning the spray arm in a clockwise direction and it went right on with no problem./ One thing that was different about my dishwasher was the clips in the top slider rails. My clips were not the same as pictured. Each clip had 2 little tabs which needed to be released before the clip would come out, one above and one below. For each clip, I used a flathead screwdriver to gently push in the top tab and offset it slightly and then I did the same with the tab underneath the clip which was a little more difficult to see./ Thank you for these excellent instructions!

Thank you for this, but one question
I used these great instructions, but did not find a nylon washer under the plastic part that the lower 4-arm sprayer mounts on. I also don't see this washer shown on any of the online parts diagrams. Where exactly does this washer go? Is it under the very bottom, the smaller diameter? Or does it go under the top larger diameter section?

Thank you kind person who posted this page and photos!
With these step-by-step photos and explanations I, a mere female, was able to successfully take my KitchenAid dishwasher apart and fix the Chopper screen in less than an hour. What I found clogging it was truly amazing and disgusting! No more fragile Riedel wine glasses or sippy cup straws in the dishwasher again :) Now, my dishwasher works perfectly!!  Thank you WikiBooks, instead of spending exorbitant sums of money on a repair guy, I'm going to treat myself to a spa day and pair of shoes!

Fluffy Tinkapoo (talk) 02:19, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Wow
I used these instructions for my Kenmoore UltraWash, and the steps were identical. I removed some glass fragments from the mechanism and it is working. Thank you for providing the documentation.

dcyspm

Thanks!
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant!

When I found that it was going to cost me $100 for the first ten minutes of diagnostics on my dishwasher, I decided to take matters into my own hands. This article handily saved me from needing to shell out $50 on the manual, and now my dishwasher is performing better than it has in years!

Thanks. I can't say thanks enough. (and yes, Jimmy Wales has some of my money--I said 'thanks' with my wallet as well.)

You Rock!!
The pictures you took were fantastic! As others have said, I found lots of "gunk" clogging the filter and grinder screen. I ran the dishwasher with all of these parts removed and there was a lot of soap suds (even though I hadn't added any soap). I think the dishwasher just needed a good cleaning! Thank you so much for your thorough explanations and photos!

What a Fantastic Help!
This was the most comprehensive and easily understood description of what needed to be done that I could find. Great job, and the step-by-step pictures made it very straight-forward to do it myself. The difference in washing my last load of dishes was simply dramatic. I didn't need to call a repairman or buy a new dishwasher. This article saved me hundreds of dollars!!! Thank you! 67.248.162.67 (discuss) 22:36, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Step 20 needs a bit more
Great article and everything was fine until I hit step 20 and got a little confused on what went where. Once I really looked closely at the picture did I figured it out how things fit. Just needs to be a bit more verbose and it will be fine.4.227.248.121 (discuss) 07:16, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

This article is about how to disassemble the dishwasher. Not on how to repair it.--213.121.207.158 (discuss) 17:22, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

I've been looking for this fix for over a year.
You just saved me $500 for a new dishwasher. Thanks! 00:38, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank-you!
My KitchenAid dishwasher has not been cleaning the top rack for some time now, I thought it was the new phosphate free soap, so I have tried many different things. Nothing worked, so I figured something must be pluged. I just did not know how to take it apart, and your tutorial was fantastic. I found my choper 100% pluged up, cleand it, and now it works! All before breakfast! Thanks so much!

Daniel

KitchenAid Chopper replacement instructions
Many many thanks to the person who created this page, you've saved me a ton of money!!!

You just saved me a $500.00 service call. Thanks! John in Edmonton

KitchenAid Chopper replacement instructions
Thank you a million!! We are tight on money and this saved us many bucks. Kudos and hugs!

upper arm not working properly
Thank you for not making me look like a fool as I disassembled my dishwasher in front of my skeptical family! I knew that the upper spray arm was not working properly but I did not know the cause. I followed your advice and my $1000 dishwasher is working great now!!! Unfortunately I forgot to put the nylon o ring back on. (I know. I know. You said not to lose it.)  I found it as I was cleaning up the tools. I'll put it back on tomorrow when I don't have an audience!

Excellent tutorial
Thank you for this! As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Was able to retrieve toothpicks, broken glass, Q-Tips and other miscellaneous cruft. It works!!

thank you
I'm not sure who to thank or what but whoever created this page just saved me considerable time and money. After months of my dishwasher running like crap, it's as good as new now that I took out a piece of plastic that was wedged in my chopper. Thank you !! 98.206.176.162 (discuss) 19:31, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Precisely what I needed to effect the disassembly and checking of this part of the dishwasher. My screen was clean, however the sump was filled with a thick layer of soap scum. Had to get an icepick to dig out the screw head so I could get them off. Get this - discovered that this dishwasher is filling from the cold line, not the hot. Undoubtedly why the heating element went south - the reason I'm wrenching on this in the first place. Thanks again, this info was just the ticket!!!

Thanks
Hit the nail on the head!

Reassembly: Getting spray arm screwed back on
Thank you very much for your excellent article. I used it before without problems. This time, though, I had a lot of trouble getting the spray arm back on. I have a Kitchenaid KUDK03ITWH3

It wouldn't screw on to the "thing" or hub. The hub seemed to be too low inside the collar around the hub, so the wash arm just sat on the collar and spun around without screwing in.

I had to pull up on the tab on top of the hub and then the threads caught and the wash arm screwed on. I was helped by the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wttz4fB1yVs, at 14:00, though he just says it is tricky.

I also had a lot of trouble, in reassembly, turning the the water conduit back 30 degrees. It kept hitting the heating element.

I found if I pulled the part at the top of the dishwasher forward about 4 or 6 inches, it went a lot easier. --Thomas Tulinsky (discuss • contribs) 05:06, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Do I even need that part?
I have made this repair a number of times. I was thinking of just removing the screen and chopper assembly and was wondering what adverse effects this may have. I do have a garbage disposal that the dishwasher drains into and usually rinse most the food from my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.